Aubertine receives highest rating from gun rights group

The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association has given State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine its highest score of an “A” for his defense of our Second Amendment Rights.

The Shooter’s Committee on Political Education on Friday night presented Aubertine with the 2010 SCOPE Appreciation Award for his work in the Senate.

The news comes on the heels of the senator receiving the endorsement of the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund.

“I’ve always been a supporter of our second amendment rights and always will be,” Aubertine said. “As a gun owner and sportsman myself throughout my life, I know that this is a fundamental issue for all of us here in Central New York and the North Country. I have stood with sportsmen and together we can not only protect our rights, but put this state on the right track toward expanding opportunities for young people and all sportsmen and women.”

The senator has led the opposition as a co-chair of the state’s Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, to oppose legislation restricting gun rights and passed legislation to expand hunting opportunities, including bills that created a junior hunting program for big game in 2008 and legislation enabling the transfer of lifetime gun licenses to family members of soldiers who were killed in action.

Aubertine has sponsored legislation that would establish the right to hunt, trap, and fish in the New York State Constitution, and also legislation to enable parents to teach their children to learn how to shoot and proper safety at a gun range. This year he also worked with his colleagues to build the opposition needed to kill legislation on the floor that would have required gun manufacturers to add microstamping capability to mark ammunition on all semi-automatic weapons sold in New York State. He said the “ineffective and costly technology would have limited the availability of semi-automatic for law abiding gun owners.”